Do you copy and paste text between applications? Does it annoy you that the copied text brings its formatting with it and you have to change the font, size, and color of pasted text?

HovText is a small open source Windows application that removes any formatting from the clipboard. Text in the clipboard will be pasted as raw text without any HTML code, font size, color or layout so that it flows right into the style of the destination document.

I discovered HovText 1.0 in 2004 while working as a graphic designer, and becoming frustrated with pasting customer supplied copy from Microsoft Outlook into a page layout and having to constantly reset the formatting. The program couldn’t be easier to use: the square application icon sits in your taskbar, if it’s green then HovText is working, click to turn it red and revert to “normal” clipboard mode. I excitedly spread the word to my colleagues and soon it was on every designer’s machine in the office. HovText shaved a lot of menial work from text heavy designs and allowed more time for creativity.

HovText was updated to 2.0 in mid-2005 which added a simple clipboard history and actually shrunk the program’s file size in half to only 500k! It is no longer being actively developed, but for me, its functionality was complete at version 1.0. If you copy and paste lots of text from one application to another, you will likely find significant time and work savings with this simple utility. Best of all, it’s free and open source. Download HovText here.

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